Charitable Giving Rebounds Slightly After Two Years of Steep Declines

(June 21, 2011) Total giving by individuals, foundations and corporations in the U.S. was $290.89 billion in 2010, a 2.1 percent increase from 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars, reports the Giving USA Foundation. According to revised estimates, 2008 and 2009 saw the largest drops in charitable giving in more than 40 years.

Last year the foundation reported that total giving surpassed the $300 billion mark in 2008 and 2009; however it revised downward its estimates upon the release of data for those years from the IRS. The latest estimate by Giving USA shows that $10.59 billion more was donated in 2010 than in 2009, indicating a recovery, the report authors suggest.

"Total giving grew by 2.1 percent last year after adjusting for inflation. That's good news following a combined drop of over 13 percent in 2008 and 2009," said Patrick M. Rooney, Ph.D., executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in a press release.

The results mirror a report issued in March by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), of which AFP is a part, which found that a majority of charities surveyed saw their fundraising revenue remain stable or increase last year.

The rebound so far appears to be gradual. "If giving continues to grow at that rate, it will take five or six more years just to return to the level of giving we saw before the Great Recession," Rooney said. "Giving is now at about the same level in real dollars as it was a decade ago."

However, there is some good news: Americans continue to be generous. Total giving, when adjusted for inflation, has exceeded $280 billion a year every year for the past decade, and surpassed $290 billion in six of the last seven years.

Giving Estimates by Type of Donor

Giving by individuals in 2010 is estimated at $211.77 billion, which is a 2.7 percent increase over 2009 (1.1 percent adjusted for inflation). Albeit a modest increase, it is consistent with previous post-recessionary years over the past four decades, the report states.